Headwear



P. ADAMSON HEADWEAR Filed Oct. 1, 1952 INVENTOR BY PE/FC) ADA/"30A! un-tomb! Patented May 12, 1936 UNITED STATES HEADWEAR Percy Adamson, Rye, N. Y., as'signor to United States Rubber Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of- New Jersey Application October 1,

3 Claims.

This invention relates to elastic braid material and more particularly to flat elastic braids and articles of millinery made therefrom.

This application is a continuation in part of 5 my application Ser. No. 604,379, filed April '11,

Articles of millinery have been made by braiding such materials as straw and natural and artificial hair, in filiamentary or strip form, either alone or together with textile threads or yarns such as cotton, wool, silk, rayon and the like, and sewing the braids together into the desired shape. Soft and stiff straw hats are examples of such manufacture and present articles of millinery having some flexibility but practically no elasticity or stretching qualities. Such hats, as is well known, are made in a variety of sizes and shapes to fit different sizes and shapes of heads, necessitating in commercial practice the carrying of large stocks of this type of millinery.

The present invention relates to elastic braid material and to articles of millinery made there- ,from which have the desired elasticity or stretching qualities. Articles of millinery made in whole or in part of such elastic braid material are practically of a universal size and will fit various heads of different sizes lessening greatly the manufacturing costs incidental to the production of hats of many sizes, and the necessity for carrying large stocks of such articles in commercial practice.

One embodiment of the present invention is shown in the accompanying drawing and such is intended to be merely illustrative since it is evident that many variations of the same may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 illustrates an article of millinery made from fiat elastic braid according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of two adjacent elastic braids used in the construction of the article shown in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a detailed view of the preferred type of elastic thread shown in the articles of Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, Fig. 1 illustrates a hat I made of fiat elastic braid material sewed together spirally in the vicinity of the edges of the braid into a turban shape, thus producing an elastic hat fitting snugly on the head and being universally adaptable to various sizes and shapes of the head of the wearer.

The elastic braid as shown in detail in Fig. 2

1932, Serial No. 635,723

is composed of elastic threads 2 running lengthwise of the braid and braided together with inelastic threads'3 in a manner well known in the art of inelastic braid manufacture. As clearly shown, the braids are sewn adjacent their edges with a conventional zig-zagv stitching with elastic thread 4. Such elastic thread as incorporated in the braid itself and as shown in Fig.. 2 for stitching the braids together adjacent theiredges is shown in detail in Fig. 3 and is preferably made as described in my prior Patent No. 1,822,847, dated September 8, 1931. The round core 5 of elastic thread is made from an aqueous dispersion of rubber and may be deposited directly from rubber latex, for example, by extruding the latex through a nozzle into a bath of coagulant, removing the thus formed filamentary coagulum from the coagulating bath, drying and vulcanizing in a manner well known in the art, and as described in patent to Hopkinson and Gibbons, No. 1,545,257, dated July 7, 1925. The rubber core 5 is covered while under tension with right and left windings of textile threads 6 and I. This preferred type of elastic thread may have a rubber core made directly from an aqueous dispersion of rubber by other processes than the extrusion process above described, or may have a core cut from calendered sheet rubber or made by other well known processes from various elastic materials, and in any cross sectional shape desired, such elastic thread being covered with the desired textile material, and constructed with the desired number of helical windings, or braided, or otherwise covered with textile material, if desired.

The elastic braid material may be made with the elastic thread and inelastic thread of substantially the same degree of fineness, the elastic thread being covered with ordinary textile materials, such as cotton, linen, silk, wool or artificial fibres such as rayon and the like, and the inelastic threads used in the manufacture of the braid being composed of such materials as straw, horsehair, artificial hair, or artificial fibres made from substances known as visca, cellophane and the like in a manner well known in the present day construction of ordinary inelastic braid materials. The braid as shown in Fig. 2 is sewn adjacent its edges with elastic thread in a zig-zag stitching which provides the desired degree of elasticity in the sewed edges as well as in the braid proper. However, if desired, the zig-zag stitching may be done with inelastic sewing thread since the method of sewing with zig-zag stitching itself allows sufiicient stretching of the sewn edges, the necessity for an elastic sewing thread with such zig-zag stitching being more or less eliminated. ,The edges may be sewn together, however, by ordinary chain or look stitching, in

. which case it is desirable to use an elastic thread being sewed by hand or machine at the desired portion of the braid with the kind of stitches and type of sewing thread desired.

The hat as illustrated in Fig. 1 is shown entirely of elastic braid material sewn together at the edges and providing throughout its construction a stretchable turban-like article of millinery It is evident, however, that if desired only portions of the hat may be made of elastic braid material imparting the stretching characteristics to those parts desired, such as, for example, to the brim of the hat, the band, or the crown, the hat,

of course, being constructed in various shapes and in no manner limited to the turban type illus trated merely as an example. Various portions of the hatmay be made with elastic braid material and other portions with inelastic braid material or various types of textile fabrics. If

desired, certain of the parts made of elastic braid may be sewn together partly or wholly with elastic thread, and other parts entirely with inelastic thread to reduce to the desired amount or to eliminate entirely the stretching characteristics of such latter part. 7

Various other modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art and it is not desired to limit the invention otherwise than as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. .An article of headwear composed at least in part of flat braid comprising inelastic threads and elastic threads composed of a rubber core covered with textile material, said braid being sewed together at least partly with elastic thread into the desired shape.

2. An article of headwear composed at least in part of flat braid comprising inelastic threads and elastic threads composed of a rubber core covered with textile material, said inelastic and elastic threads being of substantially the same degree of fineness, said braid being sewed together at least 'partly'with elastic thread into the de-' sired shape. a

3. An article of millinery made of flat braid composed of inelastic threads and elastic threads of substantially the same degree of fineness as said inelastic threads, said elastic threads beingcomposed of a core of rubber depositeddirectly from latex covered with textile material, said braid being sewed together spirally in the vicinity of the edges thereof into a turban shape with elastic thread composed of a rubber core covered with textile material.

' PERCY ADAMSON. 

